Daft Punk announces new album release

I'm a huge Daft Punk fan, and I can't contain my excitement anymore. It's robot rock time, people! Why? Because Daft Punk will release a new album this spring. It's been too long. Way too long. Eight years, to be exact.

With no idea what to expect from the forthcoming Daft Punk album, what can we do but sit around and count the days? I'll tell you what I'm doing: I'm going back through the Daft Punk catalog right now at work, trying to pretend like I'm, you know, actually working.

Here's the scoop: Daft Punk decided to sign with Columbia Records. An album will be coming, likely this year and again, we really have no other information. That's all we need, though, to begin wildly speculating. Daft Punk is nothing if not totally obscure, so anything is possible with this French duo.

My first question is: Who will Daft Punk collaborate with on this new album, if anyone? Could it be Chic frontman Nile Rogers? Rogers did hint at a possible collaboration earlier this month on his website, after all. At the time, I kind of pooh-poohed the idea. Now I see things in a whole new light. And yeah, if that happens, dance music fans' heads will explode all at once. I can't really think of anything I'd like more than to hear Daft Punk and Nile Rogers together.

Even amid all the speculation and uncertainty surrounding Daft Punk's fourth album (including a specific release date and a title), I can say that we'll all find out what's going on when Daft Punk decides to tell us. In typical fashion, they'll toss a few musical breadcrumbs our way and let us eagerly follow their trail wherever it leads.

One last thing, for fans: Rumors that Daft Punk might headline Coachella 2013 are rampant and pretty persistent. Just throwing that out there, because if you were on the fence about going this year, this could very well push you over the edge. I'm still kicking myself for not going in 2006. So if this happens, I'll see you all there. I'll be the one following the breadcrumbs...

Photo courtesy of EW.com